Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox Blu-Ray Review

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is the 17th DC Comics animated film from Warner Brothers and is based on the “Flashpoint” storyline written by longtime Flash scribe Geoff Johns. While it’s titled a Justice League film, that’s more for marketing than anything as this is a Flash film all the way with only brief appearances by the JLA, or at least the JLA as we know them.

You know, for a company that came up with Crisis on Infinite Earths nearly thirty years ago in an effort to clean up its universe of all its parallel worlds and the problems it created, they sure to like to create brand new alternate world storylines. We are so many iterations removed from the Pre-Crisis DC Comics that you couldn’t find it on even the most up-to-date GPS system.

The Flash, (the Barry Allen version which I have to point out BECAUSE of Crisis to begin with), arrives on the scene at a break-in at the Flash Museum and is confronted by his Rogue’s Gallery: Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, and Top. However the entire group of villains has been duped by Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash, who intends to blow up Central City, including the Rogues. The JLA arrives to help foil the plot and disarm a series of bombs.

The following day, Barry wakes up to find he is in an alternate world where he was able to save his mother from being killed,but one in which the world has radically changed for the worse. Bruce Wayne is dead, killed in the alley when he was a boy and instead it is his father Thomas, who has become a more violent version of Batman. There is no Superman or Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman leads the Amazons into battle against Aquaman and the Atlanteans in a war that threatens to destroy the entire world. On top of that, Barry no longer has his powers.

Barry arrives at Wayne Manor looking for Bruce Wayne only to find it abandoned. Descending to the Bat Cave, he’s attacked by Thomas Wayne. Barry is able to convince Wayne that he is from an alternate world and deduces that Zoom has used the speedforce to alter time and is preventing him from running fast enough to return the world to normal.

Cyborg, who now works for the government, gathers a group of heroes including Grifter, Billy Batson, and Etrigan to fight Wonder Woman. Meanwhile Lex Luthor and Deathstroke lead a group of villains against the army of Atlantis. Barry also discovers that a meteor fell to Earth in the heart of Metropolis thirty years earlier, coinciding with Superman arriving on Earth in Barry’s world.

I’m torn on this film. There’s much to like but also some nagging issues. The film gives us the Flashpoint story, streamlined to its core, sans all the unnecessary side plots of the crossover comics and that’s a good thing. It’s also great to see the Flash, especially the Barry Allen Flash, get a chance to shine even if it is disguised as a Justice League film. For once he is treated like one of the primary heroes of the DCU rather than a second-rater.

I’ve long complained that many of the DC films have been geared towards kids rather than more adult comic book fans. Not so with this film. This is the most brutal of any of the DC films. Wonder Woman mercilessly hangs Steve Trevor with her golden rope until his neck snaps. While this and several other deaths take place just off camera, the mere fact that their taking place at all lets you know this is a different animal than previous DC films.

The animation is a mixed bag. There is the same Anime influence here that we saw in the last DC film, Superman: Unbound and once again there are wild inconsistencies in the character models. Superman, Etrigan, and Aquaman look like they were done by crossing Rob Liefeld with Mike Sekowsky and then giving them a hyper dose of HGH. Big, blocky, overly muscled and ugly! On the other hand, The Flash and Batman fare much better. Director Jay Oliva packs the film with far too many supporting characters and in giving all of these characters screen time, it detracts from the central storyline. Flash working with Batman to return to his world was far more interesting than the non-stop battles between the heroes, villains, Amazons, and Atlanteans.

A vast improvement over Superman: Unbound was in the voice cast. Kevin Conroy returns to voice the regular world Batman with Kevin McKidd doing a fine job as the tortured Thomas Wayne version of Batman. Justin Chambers gives us a Flash that is more mature than what we’ve seen in other films and the Justice League animated show. Other standouts included C. Thomas Howell as Professor Zoom, Ron Perlman as Deathstroke, and Cary Elwes as Aquaman with Dana Delaney returning to voice Lois Lane.

In the end there are some missteps along the way but Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is finally the kind of adult-themed film that many fans have wanted.

A Flash in Time: Time Travel in the Flash Universe (22:00) – A look at time and time travel from Greek mythology to how time travel worked and was utilized in the DC universe, specifically with the Flash. The feature has comments from theoretical physicists and other scholars as well as comic book personalities like Johns.

My Favorite Villain! The Flash Bad Guys (19:00) – This is a much more fun extra as it looks at the history and evolution of Flash’s Rogues Gallery including Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, and Professor Zoom.

Sneak Peak at Justice League: War (8:00) - A look at the next DCU animated movie, Justice League: War, an adaptation of “The New 52″ origin story of the JLA.

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Probably the most interesting story told to date. My only complaints were the Superman annimation and not getting to see the entire league working together which I always enjoy in JL movies. One of the best if not the best DCU movie so far.

Tim, you forgot to mention Danny Huston as General Lane, and Sam Daly ,son of Tim Daly-Superman: TAS, that steps into his dad's shoes to voice Superman.

Just watched it last night on Blu-Ray and I was blown away! I have no complaints about the animation, it looked great to me. I was surprised by how huge Aquaman looked, and that haircut (Yeesh..), but it made him look more menacing and intimidating. I was also surprised how violent this DCU film was, but I will definitely watch it again!

This movie was awesome!!! I was blown away. Everyone I've shown it too was impressed and thought it was a great surprise! Im surprised more people arent talking about it on this site. Oh wait I forgot they're still talking about the gay green lantern.

Something that confuses me with the FP paradox, how does Flash's saving of his mother affect the rest of reality so much? How can it affect when/where Superman arrives for example? He would have been sent the exact same time, and unless the orbit of the earth were affected in some way, would have arrived in the exact same spot, and so on with the other heroes.

Yeah, the animation particularly on Superman and Aquaman sucked, but overall it was pretty well done. Of course, it's always good to have the old guys like Conroy back even if it was a brief appearance. Daly did fine filling in for his dad. Did anyone else see that Supermen video on you tube? Hilarious short starring Tim Daly, Brandon Routh and Dean Cain inducting Sam Daly into the Supermen Club.

THal explains that when he is beating up the flash at the end says when he broke the time barrier it sent a ripple that slightly nudged events. If WB doesnt leverage its' best animation shows in order to create awesome live action I may have to slap someone.